Jaron Lanier

Jaron Lanier is a computer scientist, composer, artist, and author who writes on numerous topics, including high-technology business, the social impact of technology, the philosophy of consciousness and information, Internet politics, and the future of humanism. A pioneer in virtual reality (a term he coined), Lanier is currently a computer scientist at Microsoft Research. His books include “You Are Not a Gadget, A Manifesto,” and “Who Owns The Future?” In an Op-Ed for the New York Times, Lanier wrote that “the rise of inequality isn’t because of people not being needed — more precisely, it’s because of an illusion that they aren’t even there.” Throughout his work, Lanier seeks to investigate and upend the power structures that hold us back both online and offline.